Impressive progress has been achieved two years since the launch of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) determining the authorities to continue with the implementation of projects. During the second Annual Forum of the Strategy, participating countries decided to act transparently and set a few action plans to be jointly approached. Also, they brought into discussion the need for financing the future projects in the programming period 2014-2020 and the importance of adopting a joint policy on the elaboration and development of projects.
Entitled “Danube Region – stronger together, stronger in the world “, the forum was organised in Bucharest on 28-29 October and gathered 900 participants from the political, academic, associative and business environments from the 14 member states of EUSDR and third countries. The participants debated on the methods for consolidating the impact of the Strategy in the region with the purpose of approaching the most pressing problems in the region, such as energy security, pollution, the lack of transport connections and competitiveness. During the event, the foreign ministers signed a joint declaration and reiterated that the consolidation of the strategy implementation requires political orientation and coordination of efforts and agreed on a much more coordinated action within the Strategy. Participants focused on coordinating national efforts to adapt the macro-regional approach to the realities of a more extended Europe and the capitalisation of transnational and cross-border cooperation to support the participating third countries in their activities to achieve their goal of European integration. “Ministers of foreign affairs in the EUSDR countries have to play an important role to ensure high-level political commitment in supporting the projects implemented within the Strategy. It is necessary to ensure access to financing for the new EUSDR projects and better cooperation between EU member states and third countries”, declared the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Johhanes Hahn. Also, the ministers welcomed the role of cooperation platform that the Danube Strategy plays between EU member states and third countries creating a fair participative base and playing a vital role in connecting these countries to EU standards and values. In this context, the ministers underlined the necessity of increasing the access of non-EU countries to transnational and cross-border projects that are relevant to EUSDR, via IPA, ENI and other EU foreign instruments and development funds for transport, environment, energy and IT projects.
EU financing, essential for connecting the region
One of the four pillars of the strategy aims at generating efficient connectivity in the region, the optimisation of mobility and intermodality being the main factors which determine the construction of a transport network which provides the delivery of seamless and integrated transport services. “For sure, the Danube Strategy can be integrated into a broader strategy, one of my colleagues call it “the new silk road”. What is important is that, indeed, the new communication paths, the new commercial roads between Europe and Asia can form the structure that would help humanity develop in the coming future. I want to say that the Romanian Government is absolutely determined to collaborate with all the other governments which participate in this strategy”, declared Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta.
Actions PA1B (for railway, road and air transport) focus on the contribution of projects to the completion of the TEN-T, the implementation of railway freight corridors which form a part of the European network, the sustainable transport systems in metropolitan areas and the implementation of intelligent systems for a sustainable transport, especially in urban regions. “We have been searching for solutions to implement the project submitted for two years; of these projects (150 projects), 51% are for railway transport, 8% for intermodal transport, 8% horizontal. 34 projects have been approved, most of them on railway and road transport. However, we are facing with great challenges which slow down the finalization of projects: significant development differences, lack of sufficient resources and institutional capacity, the need to consolidate the governmental structure and giving credit to common interest problems”, declared Franc Žepič, Priority Area Coordinator for the Danube Strategy, Ministry of Transport of Slovenia (one of the countries which coordinate PA1B).
Next to these inconsistencies, the external dimension remains an important problem. Several countries with different statute are involved in the strategy. “Most of the 14 countries are EU member states (9), we have to consider that three countries have candidate potential and two are neighbour countries. Moreover, the ownership feeling is not developed yet: only partners feel as equals and observe benefits, while non-EU countries are officially acknowledged as equal partners”, explained Žepič.
In the connectivity segment, a Joint Vision on Transport for the Danube Region is necessary, as well as a new railway corridor that would link EU to non-EU countries (on the route Munich–Ljubljana–Zagreb–Belgrade–Sofia to Turkey – Istanbul), the Intermodal Strategy (phase I), study on air connectivity (in preparation) and support in promoting land infrastructure projects. “After two years of implementation, we (PA1B) are still fighting to initiate and develop the submitted projects”, concluded Žepič.
But project implementation needs the allocation of necessary financing. Although the strategy doesn’t have yet a financing set for 2014-2020, “progress has been made so far. According to the report, the strategy already has results. 400 projects have been channelled through the Coordinators of the Priority Axis, worth EUR 49 Billion. The European Union will finance the projects, but they have to be well-developed, as we will evaluate every project before granting funds. The Commission can support the objectives of the programme in the next programming period, but member states have to consider the future regional programmes. We have already noticed that there are good examples about the Partnership Agreement. Now we have to make sure that the Operational Programmes for 2014-2020 will consider the Danube Strategy” declared Johannes Hahn.
As the Danube Region is crossed by TEN-T and represents an important part in the establishment of a European integrated system, “Regarding the EUSDR financing for the next programming period, projects will be selected carefully and they will have to meet the requirements on financial and economic sustainability, including the impact on the transport system. EUR 26 Billion will be allocated through the Connecting Europe Facility; the Cohesion Fund will supply EUR 11 Billion (according to the inflation rate). 50% of financing will go to studies, 20% to domestic works, 30% to missing link works, congestion, MoS and 40% to cross-border works. Over 85% of financing will be granted to countries that benefit from the cohesion policy. National authorities have to think about the fact that priority projects are those with international impact, so they must leave national interests behind and adopt regional and European policies”, declared Helmut Adelsberger, Seconded National Expert, DG Mobility and Transport. TEN-T and CEF financing is available only to member states, including for cross-border projects, in non-EU countries. Candidate countries can benefit from IPA funds and international financial institutions and few funds will be available to the other countries, the loans from international financial institutions being the main source.
According to the European Investment Bank, the amount of this year’s credits for development of Danube Region projects will be similar to that in 2012, when EUR 8 Billion were allocated. Mihai Tănăsescu, EIB Vice President, said that because of the restraints in Europe, the bank had increased the allocation of credits by over EUR 60 Billion in the next four years. “Despite the existing constraints in Europe, now EIB has a contra-cyclic approach and between 2013 and 2015 the bank increased the allocation of credits by over EUR 60 Billion, compared to commercial banks that reduced the allocation of credits. I believe we want to participate in connecting the projects on Trans-European networks, as well as those of cohesion and convergence in the Danube Region”, declared the EIB Vice President during the Forum.
Share on:
